January Unrated Blitz Recap - February Blitz Tonight!

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A total of 20 players showed up for the first $2 Unrated Blitz Tourney. The five, double-round Swiss Tourney took place immediately after GM Ben Finegold's excellent free lecture about the 2012 Tata Steel Tournament. GM Ben Finegold played in the $2 Blitz and performed quite well. However, club employees are not eligible for prizes in this event, so that left the field wide open for the 1st Place prize. Ben's son, Spencer, took full advantage, and scored 8 out of a possible 10 points to win a $20 Gift Card to the CCSCSL. Going into the final round, three players still had a shot to win the "Top of the Bottom Half" prize. Ben Simon was leading Matthew Lore and Trevor Juenger by 1.5 points each but was paired up against Yomi Toba.

In the first match, Yomi won easily, while Matthew defeated Trevor to inch within a half point of Ben. Matthew got the better of Trevor once again to finish with a respectable 6 points. Ben was once again losing badly to Yomi, but kept fighting on and Ben luckily eeked out a draw in the second game when Yomi ran out of time in a crushing position to finish with 6 points as well. This meant Armageddon! One game would decide the $10 Gift Card. The white pieces would have six minutes and have to win to get the Gift Card, while the black pieces would have 4 minutes but need only a draw to get the prize. Because Ben had better tiebreaks, he received the right to choose his color and selected the white pieces. The game went by fast and Matthew finally succomed in time pressure. 

Don't miss all the excitement this Thursday, February 23rd. Come for GM Ben Finegold's Lecture on the Greatest Games of 2011 at 7 p.m, and stay for the $2, 10-round Blitz tourney.

SwissSys Wall Chart. Open